subterranean space. Meeting rooms are
flanked by repurposed bank vaults and
safe deposit boxes. dPop!’s designers
salvaged hardwood planks in a lounge
area and built a whimsical wall of vintage
items they found in the space before the
renovations began. The structural design
choices—such as creating a skylight out
of the sidewalk above—allow a once-dark
basement to shine and also highlight the
company’s commitment to cultivating
innovation through the open layout.

Jeffrey Howard Brown, a dPop!creative administrator, says the resur-gence of commercial space in the cityhas a revitalizing effect on a whole web ofindustries flocking to the area. “What’shappening in Detroit is amazing. There’s arenewed sense of excitement that’s beendormant for a while,” he says. “We’re allrooting for each other to succeed, evenwhen we’re competitors.”Since moving Quicken Loans from thesuburbs to the city, Rock Ventures haspurchased more than 70 Detroit prop-erties and brought more than 130 othertenants into various locations in the city.

Eric King, a Quicken Loans vice president,
says the excitement is contagious for
employees who see business coming
back to the Motor City. “Of course, you’ve
got to have high-quality buildings, but
this is a better experience than being out
in the suburbs in a strip mall,” he says.

“[Employees] love it because they see the
difference it’s making to the community.

Everything that we’ve given to Detroit,we’ve gotten back in terms of how teammembers feel about what they’re doing.”Successful redevelopment projectsrequire getting the community on board,so it’s important to reach out during theplanning process. That communication isnot just to warn residents about comingchanges, Hudson says: “You learn somuch when you go to the neighborhoods.

They’re going to have stories.” Knowing
how locals interacted with the building in
the past can provide insight into how best
to highlight that history in the building’s
rebirth and help determine which historic
elements are important to retain.

Community outreach can also help
you determine if your project will pay off
in the long run. To ensure the development is sustainable, Hudson suggests
talking to area residents early on to make
sure what you’re planning is something
they need and want. “Be honest about
what it is [because] it’s got to make financial sense for them to use it,” she says.

Brown says Latitude 360 gets callsevery week from mall owners and devel-opers with properties that are ripe forredevelopment, but it doesn’t take themat their word. Latitude 360 partners withcommercial real estate practitionerson the ground to help them evaluate pros-pects. “We use CBRE [Group], mainly,to represent us in different markets,” hesays. “When we look at a location, we’llfly people out there and do a competitiveanalysis of the area.” He says they lookat psychographic data to find out if localsare likely to patronize the development.

Partner With Experts

Another key part of the repurposing
puzzle is assembling partnerships with
experts. “It’s all about getting the right
team,” Hudson says. “Find architects
and developers who are experienced
in doing redevelopment.” Hudson also
recommends identifying and being in
close contact with historic preservation
offices at the state and local levels. On
the national level, she suggests the Urban
Land Institute and the Congress for the
New Urbanism as helpful resources.

Teaming with experts can also provide a public relations boost that helps
build confidence locally. Noma says his
company was eager to work with Niels
Kreipke—owner of Desert Viking Companies based in Chandler, Ariz.—because
he’s seen as a leader who understands
the importance of reuse. “He did all the
redevelopment of downtown Chandler
some 16 years ago,” Noma says. “
Cities and municipalities in the area have
sought him out.”

While repurposing is experiencing
something of a renaissance right now,
Hudson doesn’t see it as a passing trend.
“As long as there are empty buildings
with character and the green movement
continues its path, adaptive reuse is
going to continue,” she says. “The green-est building is the one that’s already built,
and adaptive reuse is cost-effective.”